Josh Brent watches from sideline as Cowboys support accused teammate

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ARLINGTON — The Cowboys paid tribute to practice squad linebacker Jerry Brown
again Sunday and followed through on his mother’s wishes of keeping nose tackle
Josh Brent close to the team during this trying time.

Brown died last weekend when Brent, his roommate and close friend since their
college days at Illinois, flipped his 2007 Mercedes in Irving.

Brown was buried Saturday in St. Louis, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he
helped pay for the funeral.

“We wanted to make sure financially they could really be OK to have the
funeral and do everything they needed to do,” Jones said. “We needed to help …
We helped financially.”

Brent spent most of last weekend in jail in Irving, facing a charge of
intoxication manslaughter. On Sunday, however, Brent was on the sideline for the
Cowboys’ game against the Steelers.

Brown’s mother, Stacey Jackson, asked the Cowboys to support Brent in every
way.

“She asked everybody to have Josh’s back, to support him,” Jones said. “She
said Jerry would want this. His teammates asked him to come and be down there
with them, and that’s where we are. I do know that certainly that there’s the
other side of the coin, but this is a case that the people that arguably he’s
the closest to really wanting him around.”

Brent was in street clothes, wearing a chain around his neck on the sideline,
with his right hand still wrapped from an injury he suffered during the
crash.

Brent had Brown’s No. 53 jersey over his left shoulder during a pregame
moment of silence to honor Brown and during the national anthem. The jersey was
draped over the Cowboys’ bench for the rest of the game, as it was last week at
Cincinnati.

The Cowboys wore a No. 53 decal on the back of their helmets. The numbers
were white inside a blue circle. The Grambling State band, performing at
halftime, formed a JB in honor of Brown.